Goldeneye Bucephala clangula

The Goldeneye is a common breeding species over most parts of Sweden. Especially the coasts  of south Sweden is an important winter area for the species and flocks are found in shallow areas both in the southern archipelagos and along the open coasts. Moreover small groups and single individuals are found dispersed on ice-free streams in inland Sweden during the winter. Staging Goldeneyes are regularly found well dispersed on different localities in most parts of the country. The Goldeneyes was the third commonest species in the data from the Swedish midwinter counts with 46000 counted.

Both September and January indices for the Goldeneye show signifricantly increasing long-term trends. For January the short term trend is also increasing whereas September indices for the last ten years mererly show fluctuations.

At the country-wide coastal survey in 2015 87000 Goldeneyes was estimated to be present at the Swedish coast compared to 72000 in 2004 and 17600 in 1971. At partial counts in 1987-1989 the total was estimated to be 30000 - 40000. Marked changes in the distribution pattern within the country has also been found when comparing the large surveys, more and more Goldeneys being found in the archipelagos along the Baltic coast.

During the last two winters an increasing number of sites have been surveyed along the coasts of the Bothnian Sea, an area that was always ice-covered during the early years of the counts. Now it is mostly ice-free and in 2017 no less than 4000 Goldeneyes were counted here on 85 sites in this part of the Swedish coast.

An international analysis of the results from the international midwinter counts have shown that there has been a shift in the winter distribution of the species related toclimate change. More Goldeneyes winter to the north, whereas nukbers decrease in the south.